Yay since I finally got to watch RS last week, I can contribute to the convo!

First of all, welcome @fleem!  Nice to see another familiar name come to the forum.

I have seen GoT, I LOVE Bronn, Jerome Flynn's character, and he's night to Drake's day.  Which makes me love both of them even more, Mr. Flynn has pulled off such polar opposite characters marvelously.

Rose - I saw her as a bit dimwitted (or perhaps not to be harsh, naive) and of course I'm a bit upset with her spurning Drake.  But the fact that she had herself educated enough to read and write changed my opinion of her somewhat.  I somehow doubt this will happen, but I hope she does eventually fall in love with Drake.  Or maybe it could happen, but there will be some bumpy twists and turns before we get there, such as she has a thing for/with the new Det. Flight and this causes tensions between Flight and Drake (though it's already caused tension with Drake and Jackson, so not sure we should re-hash that sort of thing).

Susan's accent, perhaps her mother was British and she spent some of her childhood in the UK even though Swift is American. Now, I wasn't paying particular attention at one point, but is there something about him being her father AND something more? Perhaps he's really her Step-father, that could account for  the accent discrepancy.

Deborah Goren - you could see the sexual tension between her and Reid from the start!  She is as you guys have said an Earth Mother and I think she is drawn to Reid's sorrow, wants to comfort him.  Plus he is a bit hot at times.  And she looks like she's all alone taking care of all those orphans. They are taking comfort in each other.  I do LOVE that she told him he needs to share the news about the boat survivor with his wife.  I like Deborah the most actually of all the female characters. (yes nevermind the adultery) She's selfless & caring, and is willing to take what part of him he can give.  I'm always drawn to characters like that rather than the feisty ones, perhaps it's closer to how I am? 

Overall the violence doesn't bother me, even that towards the women, because this show better represents the time and location.  It's not a romanticized version.  It's refreshing in some ways.  

And POOR HOBBS.  The way he died was absolutely heartbreaking! 

I came across this interview with Charlene McKenna quite by accident - not sure if I regret reading it or not yet but it contains BIG SPOILERS about her character in series 2! (you've been warned!)

Charlene McKenna Ripper Street 2 Interview | herald.ie